1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display panel and a fabricating method thereof, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display panel that is adapted to prevent corrosion of a pad electrode and reduce a liquid crystal margin area, and a fabricating method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display device (LCD) has liquid crystal cells which are arranged in a matrix shape in a liquid crystal display panel. The liquid crystal display device controls its light transmittance using a video signal to display a picture.
The liquid crystal display device, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, includes a thin film transistor substrate 70 and a color filter substrate 80 which oppose each other with a liquid crystal layer 16 therebetween.
In the color filter substrate 80, a color filter array having a black matrix 28 for preventing light leakage, a color filter 22 for realizing color, a common electrode 14 that forms a vertical electric field with a pixel electrode 32, and an upper alignment film (not shown) for aligning liquid crystal are formed on an upper substrate 11.
In the thin film transistor substrate 70, a thin film transistor array including a gate line 2 and a data line 4 formed to cross each other, a thin film transistor formed at a crossing of the gate line 2 and the data line 4, a pixel electrode 32 connected to the thin film transistor 30, and a lower alignment film (not shown) for aligning liquid crystal are formed on a lower substrate 1.
The gate line 2 is connected to a gate driver (not shown) through a gate pad 50. The gate pad 50, as shown in FIG. 2A, includes a gate pad lower electrode 52 extended from the gate line 2, and a gate pad upper electrode 56 connected to the gate pad lower electrode 52 through a gate contact hole 54 which penetrates a gate insulating film 12 and a passivation film 18.
The data line 4 is connected to a data driver (not shown) through a data pad 60. The data pad 60, as shown in FIG. 2B, includes a data pad lower electrode 62 extended from the data line 4, and a data pad upper electrode 66 connected to the data pad lower electrode 62 through a data contact hole 64 which penetrates the passivation film 18 above a gate insulating film 12.
There is a problem in the related art in that the etching of a transparent conductive material to form the data pad upper electrode 66 and the gate pad upper electrode 56, as well as the gate contact hole 54 and the data contact hole 64, causes corrosion of the data pad lower electrode 62. In this case, there is a problem as a data signal cannot be supplied to the data line 4 because the data pad lower electrode 62 is not in contact with the data pad upper electrode 66.